Semiconductor Chip Cooling Assembly for Stable Heat Sink Mounting
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing semiconductor chip cooling assemblies face issues with heat sinks tilting and lateral movement during assembly, leading to potential I/O damage, increased thermal resistance, and reliability problems due to uneven weight distribution.
Innovation Solution
A cooling assembly design featuring a bolster plate with vertically aligned backing bolts and loading studs, a thicker loading plate, and spring-loaded fixturing elements to secure the heat sink, ensuring even weight distribution and minimizing tilting and lateral movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional cooling assembly design is used, then assembly is simpler, but heat sink tilts and moves laterally during assembly causing reliability problems
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling assembly is divided into distinct functional components: a base plate with fixturing elements, a separate heat sink, and a securing mechanism. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently while maintaining overall stability during assembly, preventing tilting and lateral movement without requiring a monolithic complex structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The fixturing elements are pre-positioned on the base plate before heat sink installation. This preliminary positioning ensures proper alignment and prevents lateral movement during the assembly process, addressing stability issues before they occur rather than requiring complex corrective mechanisms.
2Temperature
If heat sink is secured tightly, then thermal contact improves, but weight distribution becomes uneven causing tilting
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple fixturing elements are distributed at different locations on the base plate, creating localized contact points that collectively provide even weight distribution. This allows the heat sink to be secured tightly for good thermal contact while maintaining stability through strategically placed support points rather than uneven concentrated forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The fixturing elements are positioned to create equipotential weight distribution across the heat sink base, ensuring uniform contact pressure and stable positioning. This prevents tilting by balancing the gravitational and thermal forces across multiple contact points.
3Stability of the object's composition
If fixturing elements are added to prevent movement, then stability improves, but assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fixturing elements are designed to be self-aligning and self-securing, eliminating the need for complex external alignment mechanisms or multiple adjustment steps. The elements automatically position themselves to prevent lateral movement and tilting, improving stability without proportionally increasing assembly complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The improved assembly achieves stable and secure mounting of heat sinks, reducing thermal resistance and enhancing reliability by evenly distributing weight across multiple plates, thereby preventing tilting and lateral movement during installation.
Implementation Method 1
spring-loaded fixturing elements
Implementation Method 2
heat sink
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus is described. The apparatus includes a back plate. The apparatus includes a bolster plate that is secured to the back plate with a back bolt. The bolster plate has a window. The apparatus includes a circuit board between the back plate and the bolster plate. A semiconductor chip package is electro-mechanically coupled to the circuit board within the window. The apparatus includes a load stud that emanates from a face of the bolster plate. The back bolt emanates from an opposite face of the bolster plate. The load stud and back bolt are oriented along a same axis that is orthogonal to the face and the opposite face. The apparatus includes a heat sink. The apparatus includes a loading plate. The heat sink is mounted to the loading plate. The loading plate has a fixturing element that is secured to the load stud to secure the loading plate to the bolster plate.